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Price, $2,00 per Hundred, in Wrappers. 



DR. WAYLANl) 

M 

ON THE 

MORAIi A]\l> J11:J^IGI0U8 A8PECT8 

OF THE 

NEBKASKA BILL. 

^ v^- 

Speech at Providence, R. I,, March 7. 



Mil. President : — I am not surprised to see so large a number of the citi- 
Kens of Rhode Island assembled on the present occasion. On this spot was 
formed the first government on earth which proclaimed both civil and religious 
liberty to be the birthright of man. It is meet that, on this soil and in this 
city, a measure which proposes to violate the most sacred rights of humanity 
should receive its merited cond emnation. 

Before I proceed to consider this bill, I think it proper to say that, while I 
speak with entire plainness on the merits of the question, I shall avoid all de- 
nunciation of individuals. It is my good fortune to know and to esteem many 
of my fellow-citizens at the South, whom I believe incapable of performing aa 
action which they see to be dishonorable or mean. I will go farther, and say 
that I have never conversed with an intelligent and right-minded slaveholder 
who did not confess slavery to be wrong, utterly indefensible in itself, and the 
great curse that rests upon the Southern States. They have looked upon the 
subject in sad despair, hoping that a kind Providence would open for them 
some way of escape from an evil which was every year becoming more and 
more threatening. Such men — and they form a large portion of the best men 
at the South — will, I know, honor us for opposing this bill, and will in their 
hearts rejoice if our opposition be successful. 

We have met to protest against the bill now before Congress for establish- 
ing the territorial governments of Nebraska and Kansas. The feature in this 
bill against which we protest is, that in all that vast territory, now uninhabited 
by white men, either free or slave States may be organized at the will of the 
settlers. On the face of it, then, it places slavery and freedom on equal terms, 
and proclaims that freedom and oppression are looked upon with equal favor 
by the people of the United States. It is, I know, said that it is intended to 



^ 






have no practical effect, for that slavery will never be introduced there. This, 
I presume, however, that no one expects us to believe. To suppose the universal 
agitation of this subject to be revived — an agitation so much to be deprecated 
by the South — and the reproach of violated faith to be endured, without an 
assignable object, is to suppose men to act without motive; that is, to be eith- 
er idiotic or insane. We will not accuse reasonable men of this absurdity. I 
therefore consider this as a bill to establish slavery throughout all this vast re- 
gion. 

Now, against this bill I protest, in the first place, because it proposes to vio- 
late the great elementary law on which not only government, but society itself is 
founded. 

If there be any moral or social principle more obvious or more universal 
than any other, it is this, that every man has a right to himself. He posseses 
this right as a man, because he is a man, in virtue simply of his humanity. 
This right includes his right to his body and his mind, to his material and his 
spiritual nature. It is the foundation of all responsibility ; for the moment I 
cease to have a right to myself, that moment I also cease to be responsible for 
my actions, either to God or to man. It is this right which distinguishes me 
from a brute. Brutes are endowed with no such right, and we may lawfully 
enslave them, slaughter them and feed on them. Governments are estab- 
lished and laws are enacted not to confer this right — it existed before 
them— but to prevent its violation. It is the sole foundation of the right of 
property ; for if I have a right to myself, I have a right to the product of my 
own energies, provided those energies are innocently directed — that is, not in 
interference with this right in another. 

But assume the opposite, and what is the result? Suppose a man not to 
have a right to himself, and what is the consequence ? Government is impos- 
sible. Every man becomes the prey of every other man. Right personal and 
right in property are annihilated by a single blow. Turks may oppress Greeks, 
Russians may trample on Turks, Austrians may deluge Italy or Hungary in 
blood, and no right is violated. Nay, more ; you. Sir, may enslave me, or I 
may enslave you, the white man may enslave the black man, the black man 
may in turn enslave and murder the white man, and all are innocent of crime. 
The rising of the slaves universally would thus be justified, and all cause for our 
aiding to subdue insurrection would be taken away. But it is needless to pur- 
sue a doctrine so monstrous. Slavery is a sin against God, and an outrage on 
humanity. It deprives a man not of one or another right, but it violates that 
fundamental law of humanity on which all right rests. I would protest against 
this iniquity anywhere, in the name of humanity, and justice, and universal 
love ; I protest against it here at home specially, when this outrage is to be 
perpetrated on soil of which I and every other American citizen are the sole 
and rightful possessors. 

But secondly, as an American citizen I protest against this bill. 

Our f>overnment owes its existence to the assertion of the principle to which 
I have just alluded — that every man has a j-ight to himself The Declaration 
of Independence, that bill of riglits whicli made us a nation, affirms, first of all, 
'•' We hold these truths to be self-evident, that. all men are created equal; that 
they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among 
these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.'' It was for this principle that 
our fathers contended in that prolonged struggle, the Revolutionary War. It was 



for this that blood was poured out like water at Concord and Bunker Hill, at 
Bennington and Saratoga, at Red Bank and Trenton and Yorktown. And when 
they asserted this principle, they asserted it of. humanity, without excluding 
from it any portion of the race. This is abundantly shown by the writers of 
that time, who were also actors in the war of Independence. To omit the 
mention of all the men at the North, it is sufficient to call to your recollection 
the names of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and, in fact, all the fathers of 
the Republic whose opinions were of sufficient importance to reach to the pres- 
ent day. 

The sentiments of these men were fully exemplified by the act of 1787. 
Slavery existed in several of the States. It was acknowledged to be at vari- 
ance with the sentiments of the whole people, and in violation of the principle 
asserted in the Declaration of Independence. That it might be forever re- 
stricted within its then limits, and thus be more easily extinguished, all the 
territory then possessed by the Confederation was declared to be forever free. 

When the Constitution was adopted, the object for which it was formed was 
explicitly stated ; it was, " to establish justice" and "secure the blessings of 
liberty." It is the recognition of this principle as the great Object of our Union 
that gave this nation consideration among men. This we have always, it has 
been said even obtrjasively, claimed for ourselves. It is in this respect that we 
have held ourselves up in contrast with governments in which the rights of 
man as man were trampled under foot. It is this principle which has made 
the stars and stripes the dawning star of liberty to the civilized world. Abol- 
ish this, and there is nothing more to distinguish us from those despotic oligar- 
chies in which a few declare themselves free, while they hold millions under 
them in bondage. 

Now I affirm that this proposed measure is in the gravest sense revolution- 
ary — far more so than if it enacted that the office of President should be abol- 
ished, and its place supplied by an hereditary monarchy. This latter might 
be done and yet the great object for which the Government was established 
be maintained; but here the great object for which the Government was form- 
ed is not changed, but reversed. The particular manner in which the agents 
of a Government are to be related to each other and to the people, is of far 
less consequence than the principle by which all their action is to be directed. 
An insurance company is formed to protect buildings from loss by fire. It es- 
tablishes its laws and elects its officers. But if its object be reversed, and it 
devotes itself to setting buildings on- fire, it were vain to tell me that they 
elected their president in the same manner, or that the clerks and the presi- 
dent were not permitted to interfere with the duties of each other. Nor, were 
I an original member of such a company, could I, by any cry of union, be 
persuaded to be a partner to their transactions. I should say, the object be- 
ing changed, the association is dissolved, and I will be a partaker in none of 
your villainy. Now, I cannot but consider this measure as of precisely this 
character. We united to form a government on the principle of the Declara- 
tion of Independence and the preamble of the Constitution — namely, to estab- 
lish justice and secure the blessings of liberty; to illustrate to the world the 
truth that all men are endowed by their Creator W'ith an inalienable right to 
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This bill reverses this principle, 
and makes this government declare that men are not endowed with these 
rights, and that our object is not to establish justice or secure the blessings of 



liberty, but to extend slavery over our whole doniain, and transmit it to our 
children as their heritage forever. The force of such a revolution is to dissolve 
the government itself ; for when the essential clement of a compact is re- 
versed, every contracting party is released from his obligations in respect to it. 
I therefore protest against this bill as revolutionary, and giving just cause for 
a dissolution of the Union. 

Third. As a citizen of a free State I protest against the passage of this bill. 

This seems to me only one of a series of measures of which the obvious in- 
tention is to render the whole legislation of this country subservient to the in- 
terests of the slaveholding States, by securing, at all hazards, a majority in the 
Senate. 

These measures it is painful to specify. I pretend not to enumerate them 
all, but I will mention only a few of the most important. 

The purchase of Louisiana, though not made for this object, gave the first 
bias in this direction. It was made without constitutional authority, and fur- 
nishes an illustration of the mischief resulting from the violation of a principle 
for the sake of an immediate advantage. Then came the Missouri Compro- 
mise. Here, for the sake of peace and the preservation of the Union, as it 
was said, the essential principle in which the government was founded was held , 
in abeyance, and this territory, acquired from France, was divided, a part be- 
ing conceded to slavery and the rest irrevocably devoted to liberty. It has 
always been said that even this concession was procured by corruption. " We 
wanted," said John Randolph, " sixteen dough-faces, and we got them ; we 
could have got sixteen more had we wanted them." Then came the admission 
of Texas. This was done not only without constitutional authority, but, as I 
think, in opposition to constitutional enactment. By this act an immense tract 
prepared for slavery'- was admitted into the Union. The lamented Dr. Chan- 
ning, than whom a truer friend to the Union never lived, declared, in his let- 
ters on "The Duty of the Free States," that if ever this were done, the 
Northern States were bound at once to separate themselves from the Confed- 
eracy. Next came the Compromise of 1850. In this instance the (ree States 
were grossly insulted, and nothing could have carried the measure but the in- 
fluence of a great statesman, who, by his conduct in this case, has left a stain 
on his reputation which even his former brihiant services can never erase. A 
short time before, Florida had applied for admission to the Union, with a con- 
stitution riveting slavery upon her to the latest time. When a question was 
made about receiving a State with slavery so irrevocably interwoven into its 
constitution, it was indignantly replied that with this matter Congress had 
nothing to do; and that the Union would be dissolved if the slave character of 
the constitution of a State was made an objection to its reception. The next 
State which presented itself was California, with a free constitution. The re- 
ception of this State gave rise to an angry debate of six months, and she was 
admitted at last by a compromise. The remarkable terms of the compromise 
were — that California should be admitted into the Union, and, on the other 
hand, that four new slave States should be formed out of Texas; that a more 
stringent and reckless law should oblige the free States to deliver up fugitive 
slaves, and, on the other hand, that the slave-trade, which on the high seas is 
piracy, should not be carried on in the District of Columbia. « 

Then came the measure which we are now considering. The territory cov- 
ered by this bill is, in part, (he same as was, by the Missouri Compromise, 



solemnly consecrated to freedom. It was so considered b)' Southern men. 
The measure was carried by Southern votes. It was considered that, in yield- 
ing to slavery the territory south of 36° 30', the North made a great conces- 
sion for the sake of Union. It is now proposed to nulUfy this solemn compact, 
and devote to slavery a territory out of which some fifteen or twenty new 
States may eventually be formed. When these States are organized and add- 
ed to those formed out of Texas, the character of the Senate is irrevocably 
fixed. _ The legislation of the nation is forever Southern ; and Southern legis- 
lation is always subservient to the peculiar institutions of the South. 

When this has been done, this country, at home, will present a singular spec- 
tacle. The slaveholders in the United States are said not to exceed 300,000 
—call them half a million. We have then half a million of men governing, 
in fact, thirty or forty millions. An institution imknown to the Constitution 
will be seen annulling and subverting the Constitution itself; an institution by 
which labor is rendered degrading and despicable, legislating for men who re- 
spect themselves the more for earning their own bread. How long a union of 
such a character can continue may be easily foreseen. The question ceases to 
be whether black men are forever to be slaves, but whether the sons of the 
Puritans are to become slaves themselves. 

Nor is this all. This change in the principle underlying the Constitution 
changes our relations to the whole civilized world. The great question which 
is henceforth to agitate the nation is the question of human rights. It has 
been the glory of this country, thus far, to stand forth everywhere in defence 
of human liberty. It is the position which we have taken on this question 
that has given us our influence among nations, and taught down-trodden hu- 
manity everywhere to look up to us for succor. But establish slavery not as 
the exception, but the rule — make slavery the law of the land, the pivot on 
which legislation turns, and we must by necessity ally ourselves with despot- 
ism. We expose ourselves to contempt even now by swaggering about human 
liberty, while a pious and benevolent lady is at this moment immured in a 
dungeon in Richmond for no other crime than that of teaching children to read. 
What will it be when such an act of oppression is sanctioned by the whole 
country ? 

I value the Union as much as any man. I would cheerfully sacrifice to it 
every thing but truth and justice and Hberty. When I must surrender these 
as the price of the Union, the Union becomes at once a thing which I abhor. 
To form a union for the sake of perpetuating oppression, is to make myself an 
oppressor. This I cannot be, for I love liberty as much for my neighbor as for 
myself. To sacrifice my liberty for the sake of union is impossible. God made 
me free, and I cannot be ia bondage to any man. These 1 believe to be tho 
sentiments of the free States, and therefore it is, as a friend of the Union, that 
I protest against this bill. 

But there is another feature in this bill which deserves to be considered. 
The consequence of its passage must be the destruction of the Indian tribes 
within the territory which it proposes to establish. These poor red men had 
already begun to cultivate land, and were advancing in civilization and Chris- 
tianity, when, in defiance of a hundred treaties, they were savagely torn up hj 
the roots and transplanted to their present location, and in the removal one- 
third of their whole number perished. Every guaranty that could bind a mor- 
al agent was given them that they should remain unmolested in their present 



6 

residence forever. They are now rapidly improving their conditon. They 
have schools admirably conducted, churches of Christ under the care of almost 
every Protestant denomination; they are introducing manufactures; and, in 
fact, will lose nothing by comparison with the whites in their vicinity. Shall 
these Christian men and women be again driven away? Shall the most sol- 
emn treaties ever ratiOed by the Senate of the United States be again viola- 
ted? Shall an act of cruelty unparalleled in the history of civilized man be 
perpetrated, because the victims are weak and their skins are red ? Has no man 
any rights unless his skin is white, or has a just God given permission to white 
men to defraud and enslave and murder their fe!low-man with impunity ? 

Lastly, I protest against the passage of this bill as a Christian. 

It is my firm belief, Mr. President, the belief on which I rest my hope of 
salvation, that the Son of God assumed our nature, and died for our sins, that 
we might escape the condemnation deserved by our transgressions. I believe 
that he died for the redemption of our whole race — for the ignorant and down- 
trodden African as much as for his haughty Anglo-Saxon oppressor. While on 
earth, he chose the lot of a poor man, and of an oppressed man, thus showing 
us that it was this class which shared his deepest sympathies. fie came " to 
preach the gospel to the poor, to proclaim liberty to the captive, and the open- 
ing of the prison doors to them that are bound." He himself died by the 
hand of oppression, and he has taught us that the poor and the oppressed are 
his representatives always remaining, and that we must manifest our love to 
him by charity to them. " Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of 
these, ye have done it unto me." "Take heed," said he,' " that ye oflend not 
one of these little ones." Taking Christ, then, for my example, and striv- 
ing to imbibe his spirit, can I do otherwise than take to my bosom every op- 
pressed and down-trodden child of humanity ? Jesus Christ, my Master, is 
not ashamed to call them brethren, and can I have any partnership in an at- 
tempt to trample them under foot? The Union itself becomes to me an ac- 
cursed thing, if I must hrst steep it in tears and blood of those for whom 
Christ died. 
But more than this. Hundreds of thousands of these black and red men, whose 
dearest rights are sacrificed by this bill, are, in the strictest sense, our Christian 
brethren. Some are Episcopalians, some Presbyterians, bxit by far the larger 
part are Baptists and Methodists. They sit down with us at the same table 
of the Lord; they are equally with us, members of his body; they share with 
us the same gift of his Holy Spirit, and hope with us to be ever with the 
Lord. And can Christian men join hands with the oppressors of their breth- 
ren? Can we allow it to be declared in our name, as American Christians, 
that throughout this vast region our Christian brethren shall be delivered over 
to brute violence, and that it shall be made a crime to teach them to read the 
word of their Saviour and ours ? Can we do this and hope to be forgiven ? 

And here let me appeal to Christians at the South. I have conversed with 
many of them on this subject. They have confessed slavery to be wrong, and 
they have mourned over its blighting influence on religion and morals. They 
have told me, and I believe them, that it is their daily prayer that this curse 
may be removed; that they would cheerfully make any sacrifice for its remov- 
al, but that at present they see no way of escape from it. But could my voice 
reach them, I would say, "Brethren, can you, as disciples of Christ, aid in ex- 
tending and perpetuating whcHt you know Jo be wrong? Can you pray God 



to remove slavery from our country while you are seeking to fasten it upon 

* CruwTaddTeTs'^ Southern statesmen, I would address to them a similar ap- 
peal. I have conversed with many of them, men of whom any country might 
be proud. They have told me that slavery was the curse of the Southern 
states; that, utterly indefensible in principle, in practice it wrought unmixed 
evil in every relation of life, civil, social and domestic. I wou d say to them, 
'Cai you. Js lovers of your country, extend over this vast territory an institu- 
tion which you in privaie allow to be an unmeasured ev,l-an evil already o 
o-Lntic that you are utterly unable to cope with it ? Nay, more, are you w.1- 
finl, in order^to extend and'perpetuate this wrong, ^o ov-turn the found^^^^^^^^^ 
of the Constitution and violate your solemnly plighted & t^i ? Can you ex 
pect that after this we can look upon you as brethren? ^^ /^^"^ J^^^ .^^^^^^^ 
on the essential principles of the Constitution, and annul a contract which 
Tou dec! d should be binding forever, in order toattam ---/^t-lkd POwer 
over the free States, how may we expect that power to be exerted a er it has 
been attained? If ^uch things are done in the green tree, what shall be done 

" OncSe. Could I hope that my words could reach tl^e ear of tl^^^^^^^^^ 
ident of the United States, with the respect due to the ^^ ef Mag strat^^^^^^ 
mv countrv I would address him somewhat m this wise: It has pleasea i^i 
Sne Provfdence Sir, to place you in the most responsible situation now held 
Ty any m ronlrth. I'rests'with you to decide 7^^f,^-^f ^^.^-^/^Z^^^;^' 
compiling, it may be, twenty independent States, shall ^e the abode o^^ 
freemen Sr of down-trodden slaves; whether man shal be r=«|^f ^ as a 
beino- formed in the image of God, or, degraded to a chattel, ^^^ «^^" je s°ld 
in th°e shambles like the^easts that pemh ; whether m ^^e jonjli^^^ 
freedom and despotism, for which the civilized world is P yT^'oote^ or Jr 
influence of this jrreat Republic shall be thrown m favor of the oppressor or 
oppTe"sed You^have the^ right to arrest this measure, as a grave departure 
ffi d e prindples of the Constitution, and a violation of -lemnly pled| d 
national faith. Let me, then, entreat you to look ^b^o^d/hemst^o passion 
tbat surround vou and o-aze for a moment on that eternal justice which is tne 
Sita oTof^'hr^^^^^ o1 the Most High. Decide this <1-^J7J ^ ^^^^^^^^ 
as will be most pleasing to that great Bemg, the elements of ^^^l' '^^^'^^l' 
spotless hplin J and infinite love ^^^ ^ou as^ pa not r^a^^^^ 

youTr:s\ ravr:^pa:^\rrw^^^^^^^^^^^ An ^-^^v^^:i 

Judge you by your actions, and will assign you « P^-^/^^^^ f^^^J^^^^^.'^t 
bad! with the benefactors or the enemies of your race ^.nd more than a^^ 
you must soon appear befoi. a — jhere y^ 
whatever over the meanest slave that the sun f ^^^s^P°^- , --^^ t 

Fellow-citizens, I rejoice that this meeting has been held. Come what will. 



8 

it will ever be to us an unspeakable satisfaction that, to the utmost of our 
power, we have washed our hands of this iniquity. Let us cease not to be- 
seech the God of our fathers to defeat the counsels of misguided men, and if 
the worst shall come, that he will grant to the free States the wisdom, temper, 
patriotism, and union which may be needed in this grave emergency. 



ROCHESTEH : WILLIAM N. SAGE, (Successor to Sage & Brother,) 1854. 



WILLIAM N. SAGE, 

WHOLESALE AND RETAIL 

ssUtlltx ^ ^inihntx, 

No. 40 Buffalo, Corner of State St., 



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